Monday, January 25, 2016

First-year students are invited to have their say

A message from Institutional Analysis & Planning (IAP).

The time has come again for first year students to be heard! Starting Monday, January 25, a sample of first year students will be receiving an e-mail asking to participate in the Canadian University Survey Consortium’s (CUSC) First-Year survey to tell Waterloo about their university experience. The purpose of this survey is to improve learning programs, student support, and overall campus life for current and future first year students.

This is an opportunity for First-year students to provide feedback about their experience so far at the University of Waterloo. Questions cover topics such as: decision to attend Waterloo, choice of program, experience with registration, orientation week, and overall experience so far at Waterloo in general. Students that submit their survey responses will receive $5 added to their WatCard and will be automatically entered into a draw to win a $500 undergraduate student award.

The survey will be available from January 25 to April 4. Following the survey, summary results will be available on the Institutional Analysis & Planning website.

First- year students, share your feedback by looking out for an invitation in your Waterloo (uwaterloo.ca) e-mail accounts. We hope that you will participate as your responses will make a difference! 

For more information, visit the 2016 CUSC webpage.

Tales of a Teacher: Rohan Jayasundera

by Sophie Twardus. This is the first of three Centre for Teaching Excellence Teaching Stories that will be featured in the Daily Bulletin this week.

In 1987, Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson, with the assistance of other experts in higher education, identified what they called “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.” There’s little doubt that all seven of these principles are enacted by Rohan Jayasundera – a recipient of Waterloo’s Distinguished Teacher Award – but one principle in particular stands out: namely, high expectations. “I don’t believe in making life easy for students,” says Jayasundera. “I don’t think that giving easy midterms or assignments is the way to motivate them. They come to university to study something. They are here because they want to be here. They need to be challenged.”

Perhaps because he is a physicist, Jayasundera is also keenly aware that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction: he knows that if he is going to have high expectations of his students, then he in turn needs to be there to support them. “To challenge them,” he says, “I have to demand hard work from them, and if I demand that then I have to be available to them. So, my door is open for students anytime.” Jayasundera means what he says. On weekdays he meets with students in his office until evening, and again on Saturdays for half a day.

Students recognize – and appreciate – both Jayasundera’s high expectations of them and his corresponding dedication to them. “He's tough,” says one student “but he goes out of his way to make sure each and every one of his students succeeds.” Another student comments that “All the extra time he spends with the students is incredible. He’s a very devoted teacher, and always willing to help you understand everything he teaches.” A third student sums up Jayasundera’s instructional approach this way: “He doesn’t have office hours – because his office is never closed!”

After 31 years of teaching at Waterloo, how does Jayasundera maintain this level of dedication to his students? The answer perhaps lies in what he identifies as his teaching philosophy: “If you enjoy what you do, you’ll do a good job; if you do a good job, your students benefit; if your students benefit, they are happy; if they are happy, they love you; if they love you, then it helps you enjoy what you do – and back to square one!” The word “love” might seem surprising in an academic context, but Jayasundera uses it very intentionally: he emphasizes that “if you don’t love your students and love what you are doing, then you don’t succeed.” His ardor for his students and his discipline is infectious. “He makes his students fall in love with physics,” says one of them. “He loves to teach and loves to help,” says another. “I’m going to miss him,” says a third, as the course draws to an end.

Jayasundera’s high expectations – of his students and of himself – are at the heart of his teaching practice, and are also what made him a natural choice for the position of Senior Teaching Fellow in the Faculty of Science. In that role, he recognizes that there is no single template for good teaching. “Every instructor,” he says, “has to find a teaching style that suits his or her personality.” Still, if one is looking for a role model, Rohan Jayasundera is hard to beat.  

Struggling with Germany's colonial past

by Lori Straus

Michael Götting’s premier novel, Contrapunctus (English: Counterpoint), is an uncompromising portrayal of four Black Germans struggling with the remainders of the country’s colonial past, their relationships, and the racist tendencies within the society. On January 26, Götting will be visiting UWaterloo. Excerpts from his novel will be read in German and English, and a discussion in English will follow.

​Götting is an author, journalist and curator. His novel was published in September 2015. He received his MA in North American Studies and German Studies from the Freie Universität Berlin. Götting writes for ZEIT ONLINE, Deutschlandfunk and the Tagesspiegel and works as a freelance artist and curator for Berlin's postmigrant theatre Ballhaus Naunystrasse.

The Waterloo Centre for German Studies and the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies are hosting the event. The reading will start at 4:00 p.m. in the courtyard in Environment 1 and will be followed by a Q&A session. All are welcome, and knowledge of German is not required.

For more information, including more details about Götting’s book, please visit the Waterloo Centre for German Studies website.

Monday's notes

Friends and colleagues of Leo Rothenburg, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, are invited to a retirement celebration in his honour to celebrate his 33-year career at Waterloo. Rothenburg, a native of Moscow, joined the University in August 1983 and was appointed assistant professor in 1989. He served as chair of the civil and environmental engineering department and as acting dean of engineering in 2008 and 2009. He also served as Associate Vice-President, International. The event takes place on Wednesday, February 3 from 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. in the University Club. Attendees should RSVP to Elle Clarke by sending an e-mail to e5clarke@uwaterloo.ca or by calling ext. 33985 by Monday, January 25.

Polls open for undergraduate students at 10:00 a.m. today for the "Sever Ties" referendum, which runs until 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 27. Students will be voting on the following referendum question: "Do you think the University of Waterloo should sever ties with the following institutions due to their complicity in violations of the human rights of Palestinians: University of Haifa, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Tel Aviv University, and the Weizmann Institute of Science?" 

Colleagues of Tasha Glover in the Graduate Studies Office would like to wish her the best as she celebrates a ‘milestone' birthday today. Happy birthday Tasha!